Penn State Road Rules: Industrial Revolution and Beyond
Jonathan Mathews
An old coal plant.
his May sixteen Penn State undergraduates and three faculty members spent two weeks traveling through Iceland and the United Kingdom. They stayed in
youth hostels, ate at truckstops, rode for hours in large diesel-powered vans, and
suffered through days and days of bone-chilling rain. Their mission: to
chart the West's progress from 18th-century rural economy to the
post-industrial economy of the 21st century, focusing on the significant
role that energy resources have played in that transformation. Along the
way, they toured coal mines 450-feet below the ground, scaled fences to
get close to windmills, and were wined and dined by executives from
Shell Oil's biofuels program.
Follow what happens when students and faculty abandon the formality of
the classroom for a chance to live and learn together in the real world. Dana Bauer reports.
Research/Penn State samples the diversity and drama of
Penn State's research program as a public service to inform, entertain, and
inspire the University community. Contents copyright The Pennsylvania State
University unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. For more information,
go here.
Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity,
and the diversity of its workforce. This site is maintained by Research
Publications in the Office of the Vice President for Research. Please contact
editor@rps.psu.edu if you have questions about
this site.
his May sixteen Penn State undergraduates and three faculty members spent two weeks traveling through Iceland and the United Kingdom. They stayed in
youth hostels, ate at truckstops, rode for hours in large diesel-powered vans, and
suffered through days and days of bone-chilling rain. Their mission: to
chart the West's progress from 18th-century rural economy to the
post-industrial economy of the 21st century, focusing on the significant
role that energy resources have played in that transformation. Along the
way, they toured coal mines 450-feet below the ground, scaled fences to
get close to windmills, and were wined and dined by executives from
Shell Oil's biofuels program.